Recently in Men's Basketball Category

While the
Boilermakers made strides in the rebounding department in a literal sense in
2012-13, the 2013-14 season will be about figuratively rebounding from a
sub-.500 campaign that left a bad taste in the mouths of players and staff
alike.

There seems to be some debate about Purdue's choice to continue playing basketball after finishing the season 15-17. I guess my position is fairly simple: if the administration backs the action and the coaches and players want to play, why not? The thought that the program would be better off by not playing just isn't logical.

"You have to play with energy and purpose every time out to compete against Big Ten competition."

That's a quote from an article written by Wisconsin State Journal writer Tom Oates describing why Wisconsin fell to Purdue on Sunday. He wrote about how Purdue won the 50-50 balls and how it was much more physical and aggressive. Sound familar?

Matt Painter has been preaching that sermon every day for months, and the members of his congregation finally heard his words and responded with a resounding, "Halleleujah!"

Purdue and Indiana have played 198 times in the rivalry.I've been fortunate to have been part of 70 of those games and Indiana holds the advantage with 37 wins over that period dating back to the 1978 season.

Here we are in early January, and the Boilermakers are one game under .500 on the season. It will be a fight to finish above that mark this year, to be honest. There's no doubt in my mind that this team has improved. It's just too bad it wasn't able to win some of those close non-conference games, as those losses may negate a postseason opportunity.

The Big Ten begins tonight for the Boilermakers, and the first three games should be telling. Illinois, Michigan State and Ohio State are a combined 34-6. The Illini come to Mackey Arena tonight as a 13-1 team, with its only loss coming to a ranked Missouri team.

I'm not real sure what the exact significance of the Notre Dame game is, but it appears to be important for a number of reasons. The two schools haven't met in a regular-season game in nearly 50 years, so that alone makes it historic in my viewpoint. The reasons the two programs haven't played each other have been discussed over the years, and none of them make much sense. If the two schools can meet every year in football or other sports, why not basketball?

It is very rare to witness what happened in Clemson, S.C., on Wednesday night.Competitive teams rarely trail by 20 points at half on their home floors. To be honest, it was probably a perfect storm. The Boilermakers were focused, Clemson not so much. Still, in my career, I haven't seen that happen more than a handful of times.

I have to admit, I didn't expect this type of start to the season. On the other hand, I don't know what I expected. It's just so rare to lose three of four at the beginning of the year, including a loss at home.

On the eve of another basketball season, it's hard not to think about all those people affected by the weather that has hit so much of the east coast and elsewhere. It's pretty hard not to be awed by the power of such a weather system. It's sometimes hard to talk about sports when such things are happening.

The Big Ten has always been a steady contributor to the NBA, and this year is no different with plenty of Big Ten student-athletes officially entering the NBA Draft. BTN will help tell their stories when it airs a special NBA Draft preview edition of the Big Ten Basketball Report at 9 p.m. ET on Friday. The special will include interviews with some of the Big Ten's top draft entrants and also will give viewers an inside look at the draft process.

The Big Ten led the nation in men's basketball attendance for the 36th-consecutive season in 2011-12, according to figures recently released by the NCAA. The Big Ten led all conference with an average attendance of 12,868, which is more than 1,300 higher than the next-closest conference.

Welcome to Omaha, Neb., and second-round play in the NCAA Tournament. Okay, I don't like that description of "second round," but it is what it is. Purdue will play its first game against St. Mary's tonight at 7:27 ET.

In my humble opinion, the most not-talked about sports achivement from all of last year was Connecticut's run to the national title. We heard a lot about the Uconn women's team's winning streak, about the unlikely appearance of VCU and Butler in the Final Four and how the Cardinals won the World Series.

Ok, let's see if we can figure some things out. Purdue loses by 20 to Penn State, wins by 13 at Minnesota and follows that up with a home loss to Wisconsin, a team that won at Mackey Arena for just the second time in nearly 40 years.

Winning any game in the Big Ten is difficult, but Purdue was expected to beat Penn State on Thursday night. The Boilermakers entered the game a solid seven-point road favorite and with only three losses on the season, all close games.

Some thoughts on the upcoming Crossroads Classic. Wonderful concept, just way too long in coming. I applaud the coaching staffs and administrations of the respective schools for seeing this to fruition. What's not to like about a basketball event in downtown Indianapolis around the holiday season the ensures great play, energetic fans and national television coverage? Just makes perfect sense to me.

As anyone can imagine, it was a long bus ride home from Cincinnati on Saturday night. What almost turned out to be a spectacular week for the Purdue men's basketball team ended with a thud in the 66-63 loss at 11th-ranked Xavier.

After a long travel day on Tuesday, the Purdue men's basketball team got back on the court on Wednesday in San Juan.

The Boilermakers had a one-hour shootaround at the Coliseo de Puerto Rico before heading over to a local school for the remainder of practice. Purdue meets Iona on Thursday at 1 p.m. ET in first-round action at the 5-hour Energy Puerto Rico Tip-Off.

I'm not a huge fan of exhibition games, but they do serve a purpose to the staff and the players prefer them over practices. For the fans, exhibition games provide a chance to see some players you may rarely see during the season. But those games are behind us, and so let's pass along some observations as we count down to the start of the regular season.

Junior guard Kelsey Barlow earned high praise from CBSSports.com senior college basketball writer Jeff Goodman on Friday, as the writer isted Barlow as his No. 5 breakout player for the 2011-12 season.

Seniors Lewis Jackson and Ryne Smith, junior D.J. Byrd and freshman Donnie Hale were among the Purdue players to meet with the media on Friday as the Boilermakers prepare to face Southern Indiana in their exhibition finale.

Purdue head coach Matt Painter led the United States' World University Games team into its first game action on Thursday night, as Team USA scrimmaged players from the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs.

As he prepares to leave for China with some of college basketball's top players and coaches, Purdue head coach Matt Painter does so as a member of a select fraternity of coaches who have led the United States in World University Games competition.

Purdue and United States head coach Matt Painter, his staff and 21 of the nation's top college players are set to arrive in Colorado Springs, Colo., on Friday for the start of the 2011 USA Basketball Men's World University Games Team training camp.

CBS Sports has agreed to a multi-year agreement with the Big Ten Conference, extending its broadcast rights to the conference's basketball games through the 2016-17 season. The announcement was made Thursday by Mike Aresco, Executive Vice President, Programming, at CBS Sports and James E. Delaney, Big Ten Commissioner.

On Wednesday, USA Basketball announced the list of players whom Purdue head coach Matt Painter will have to choose from for the World University Games team that he will lead to Shenzen, China, in August.

Former Purdue standout E'Twaun Moore was one of six players who worked out for the Indianapolis Pacers on Tuesday, alongside Klay Thompson (Washington State), Marshon Brooks (Providence), Jon Leuer (Wisconsin), Matt Howard (Butler) and Andrew Warren (Bradley).

Senior forward Robbie Hummel, in the midst of rehabbing a torn ACL suffered in October, recently caught up with CBSSports.com writer Jeff Goodman to discuss his rehab and the Boilermakers' prospects for the 2011-12 season, among other topics.